Carnaval: ​Celebrations of the​African Diaspora

Cedric Baker

When doing my work at times it's like I'm crossing over into another dimension, this is a festive and colorful mix of abstraction combined with minimal geometry that speaks to the idea of Carnaval for me!

About The Artist

Artist StatementAfter working for many years doing figurative or representational work, a few years ago I decided to return to the abstract color field painting I began while at Pratt Institute in NYC, this was the decade of the eighties. There is something very unique in facing the blank canvas and making a statement non objectively in a minimal abstract form that may suggest a story. The freedom of self expression continues to amaze me. I like to build a textured surface as part of the statement which may vary from rough to smooth, or glossy to matte sometimes using oil, and other times the acrylic mediums can lend themselves to a very similar finish. I recently began a series of small abstract works as a type of experimentation to draw upon the idea of paint as subject and thinking of creating a chemical build up in layers that may call to mind Johns or Rauschenberg or other abstract expressionist.

BioCedric Baker's BIO I was born in North Carolina and my family soon moved to New York City, I would spend most of my youth between the two places. As a young man I served in the U.S. Air Force, after which I would use the G.I. Bill to pursue my childhood dream of becoming an artist. My schooling began at Sacramento City College where my main interest of study was painting, drawing and printmaking. Three years later I would transfer to NYC to study at Pratt Institute to complete my studies in Fine Arts. Today I realize the influences of the Bay area Expressionist and the northern California painters have remained an influence; as well as my ten years as an employee at the National Gallery of Art here in Washington, DC where the history lessons were so many. But make no mistake about it I'm the artist that I am today because of the decade of the eighties when I drove a NYC taxi and became consumed by the downtown arts and club scene that produced Graffiti and hip-hop and a new wave of painters like Basquiat, Keith Haring and the American Master artist Romare Bearden who were Instrumental friends.